SPACECRAFT TRAJECTORY DESIGN TOWARDS SATURN USING DIRECT AND JUPITER GRAVITY ASSIST

• Main Author: Althafiansyah Rosyidin, Gamma
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Astronomi
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/80211
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Spacecraft is a vehicle or a tool designed for an outer space travel beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Since 1957 to the present, there has been a significant increase in launching objects into space. One popular space mission, Cassini-Huygens, was designed to follow an interplanetary trajectory by utilizing VVEJGA (Venus-Venus-Earth-Jupiter Gravity Assist) to reach Saturn. This article discusses simple spacecraft trajectory designs, namely the direct trajectory without gravitational assistance and the trajectory utilizing Jupiter's gravitational assistance, known as Jupiter gravity assist (JGA). NASA Ames Research Center Trajectory Browser search engine is used to design the spacecraft trajectory with the final destination of orbiting Saturn. This site solves the problem of boundary values in orbits, known as the Lambert's problem, to determine the launch times and the required launch energy within 2030 to 2040 window time according to the availability of launch vehicles capable of carrying spacecraft on a direct trajectory to Saturn. In this article, the author does not consider the presence of Saturn's satellites and rings. When comparing the direct trajectory and the JGA trajectory, the direct path requires more launch energy and fuel compared, but it takes less time to reach Saturn.